Planter attachment.



No. 736300. .PATENTED AUG. 11, 1903.

W. H. SANDIFBR & N. MEREDITH. v

PLANTE R ATTACHMENT. APPLIOATIOK I'ILBD no. 10. 1902. no menu. 2snnn'rssnnm 1.

F I G- I- r. M 3 WM/ 6 E s t :ZM J J I W N/w i4 Patented August 11,1902;.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. SANDIFER AND NOAH E. MEREDITH, OF INDIANAPOLIS,

INDIANA.

PLANTlE'R A'TTACH M ENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Iletters Patent No. 736,300, dated August11, 1903. Application filed December 10, 1902. Serial No- 134,685. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM HQSANDI- FER and NOAH E. MEREDITH, citizensof the UnitedStates, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marionand State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements inPlanter Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to corn, cotton, or like planting machines, andhas for its objects to provide for such machines a simple and efficientseed-feeding wheel, in which the seed-cells may be readily varied insize to accommodate them to different-sized seeds or kernels or tochange their capacity for holding one or more kernels at once, ascircumstances may require.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and eficientmechanism which maybe readily operated to change the distanoe-betweenthe hills being planted.

To these ends the invention comprises a seed-hopper, a relatively fixedplate carried thereby, arotary seed-disk mounted beneath the hopper andabutting against said plate, said disk comprising two relativelyadjustable members, one provided in its periphery with transversegrooves constituting seedcells and the other with tongues seated in saidgrooves and adapted, upon the adjustment of the members to and from eachother, to vary the size of the cells.

The invention further comprises a seedhopper, an operating-shaft, meansoperated by the shaft for discharging seed from the hopper, a star-wheelmounted on the operating shaft, a driving-disk mounted adjacent to thestar-wheel and provided withteeth which engage the same to operate theshaft, the disk having a plurality of rows of teeth, the teeth of eachrow being dilir'erently spaced from those of the other rows, and meansfor adj usting the star- Wheel along the shaft to bring it intoengagement with any desired row of teeth to vary the intervals ofdischarge, and consequently the distance between the hills beingplanted.

The invention further consists in the details of construction more fullyhereinafter pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of aportion of a seedplanter embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a face viewof the driving-disk. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same, taken onthe line 33 of the preceding figure looking in the direction of thearrows. Fig. 4 is a front e1evation of the seed-hopper, showing theseeddisk mounted therein. Fig. 5 is a similar view with the seed-diskremoved. Fig; 6 is a vertical section through the same on the line 6 6of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is afront elevation of one of the members of theseed-disk. Fig.

8fis a transverse section of the same. Fig.

.9 is a front elevation of the other member of the seed-disk. Fig. 10 isa transverse section of the same.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a seed-hopper suitably mounted onthe framework of the machine and provided witha relatively fixed backplate 2.

3 is a rotary seed-disk mounted beneath the hopper upon anoperating-shaft 12 and adapted to abut against the fixed plate 2. Thisdisk comprises two relatively adjustable members 4 and 5, of which themember 4 is preferably fixed and provided with seed-cells consisting oftransverse peripheral grooves 6 formed therein, and the memberfi'is adjustable along the operating-shaft 12 toward and from the fixed memberand is provided with tongues 8, seated and moving within the grooves 6and adapted, upon the adjust ment of the member, to vary the size of theseed-cells. The member 4 of the seed-disk has its rear face, or thatwhich abuts against the fixed plate 2, cored out and seated upon aflange 9, projecting horizontally from the plate 2. This flange, lyingwithin the member, constitutes the bottom of the seed-cells, and theplate 2 constitutes one of the end walls of the same, while their otherend wall isformed by the ends of the tongues 8. The ends of the tongues8 are slightly concaved, as at 10, which when the member 5 is movedinward until the ends of the tongues abut against the fixed plate formvery small cells for the accommodation of very minute seeds.

11 is a star-wheel mounted upon the operating-shaft 12 and adapted to beadjusted back and forth along the same and held in its various positionsby a screw 13, for the purpose to be presently explained.

14 is a driving-disk fixed on any axle-shaft of the machine and operatedby the groundwheels 15. This disk has its inner face provided with aplurality of concentric rows of the inner row are comparatively long forthe' purpose to-be presentlyset forth. The teeth be shorter, Whereas ifoperated by the inner on the driving-disk 14 are adapted to engage thestar-wheel lland operate the same to impart a step-by-step rotary motionto the operating-shaft and seed-disk carried thereby, and in order toincrease or diminish this motion to vary the rate of discharge of theseed it is but necessary to move the star-wheel 11 along the shaft 12 toengage with any desired row of teeth upon the driving-disk 14. It isobvious that if the star-wheel is moved to a position to be engaged andoperated by the outer row of teeth the seed will be discharged withgreater frequency, and consequently the distance between the bills willrow of teeth the discharge of seed will occur at considerably longerintervals and the distance between the hills will be accordinglyincreased.

It is to be understood that While we have shown the driving-disk asprovided with four rows of teeth this number may be varied ascircumstances may require; nor do we limit ourselves to the otherdetails of construction hereinshown and described, as such changes asmay suggest themselves to the skilled mechanic to meet certainexigencies of operation may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is 1. In aseed-planter, the combination with a seed-hopper, of a relatively fixedplate carried thereby,'a rotary seed-disk mounted beneath the hopper andabutting against said plate, said disk comprising two relativelyadjustable members, one provided in its periphery with transversegrooves,constituting seedcells and the other with tongues seated in thesaid grooves and adapted, upon the adjustment of the members toward andfrom each other, to vary the size of the seed-cells.

2. In a seed-planter, the combination with a seed-hopper, of a fixedplate carried thereby, a horizontally-projecting flange carried by theplate, a rotary seed-disk comprising two relatively adjustable members,mounted beneath the disk with its inner member seated upon said flangeand provided with transverse peripheral grooves constituting seed cellsclosed at their bottoms by theflange and at their inner ends by thefixed plate, the outer member provided with tongues seated in saidgrooves and adapted, upon the adj ustment of the members toward and fromeach other, to vary the size of the seed-cells.

In testimony whereof We aflix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM H. SANDIFER. NOAH E. MEREDITH. Witnesses:

ED M. I'IAINES, W. A. BARR.

